ET Books

A Flemish nobleman named de Busbecq, while serving as diplomat to the Ottoman Empire in the 1560's, succeeded in interviewing and recording linguistic data from a pair of Crimean natives who spoke a Germanic language. He collected approximately 100 separate words, with Latin glosses, as well as several short phrases and the beginning of a short, unglossed, song.

Busbecq thought the language must either be Saxon or Gothic; if Saxon, then linguistic residue from Saxons who fled Charlemagne after he conquered their homeland. If Gothic, then a continuation of the language of the Goths who he knew had lived in the Crimea in antiquity. The modern consensus is that it was a form of Gothic. It was probably moribund when it was recorded and is considered to have become extinct by the 17th century.

MacDonald Stearns Jr. has admirably collected into a single volume everything worth knowing about this linguistic anomaly. He begins by surveying all historical reports of the language besides Busbecq's; he then summarizes developments and trends in the study of the corpus, from the 16th century to the present.

Stearns then discusses in a general way the problems inherent in analyzing this body of data; in subsequent chapters he elaborates on these problems. The Crimean who seemed to know most about the language, for example, was a Greek who learned this Gothic tongue as a second language, from his many dealings with its native speakers. Stearns analyzes the dialect of Greek prevalent in the Crimea at the time, and tries to determine how this might have affected transmission of the forms; in short, the Greek informant spoke Gothic with an accent.

Stearns then proceeds to examine Busbecq's documentation. Busbecq was not a trained linguist, although he was a polyglot, and so he used an ad hoc method of transcription which utilized spelling conventions found in German, Dutch/Flemish, and even French.

Furthermore, when he encountered a form somewhat similar to his native Flemish, he tended to transcribe it as othographically near to the Flemish form. In words not similar to forms in any of the languages he knew, the word for "egg" ("ada"), for example, he was able to transcribe the form as transmitted, without unconscious bias.

A final complication is presented by the fact that, when his report was finally published, it was in France, where they were presumably ignorant of Flemish and German. Stearns examines what he considers to be some typographical errors introduced into Busbecq's list by the printers.

In spite of these seemingly insurmountable difficulties, Stearns resolves them in a convincing way, and then proceeds to draw some general conclusions about the phonology, morphology, and syntax of this Gothic dialect, as well as its placement within the Germanic family of languages. He concludes that it cannot be considered a descendent of Ulfilas' biblical Gothic, but must have been a co-existing form of Eastern Gothic, and further that its distant relation to biblical Gothic argues for an early separation from the Visigoths, possibly as early as 200 AD. That is, it is a form of Ostrogothic.

Stearns then lists all separate forms documented by Busbecq, with a detailed etymological analysis. Finally, there is a extensive bibliography. As if that were not enough, the book also includes fascimile plates of the French 1589 printing of Busbecq's letter concerning these Goths and their language, in its entirety.

The book is heavy going in places. I have university training in Slavic and Indo-European linguistics, and I have since studied Germanic linguistics independently, and I found it very difficult in parts, especially the discussion of the Greek Crimean dialect of the 16th century. Some background in Germanic languages or historical linguistics is essential in my opinion. However, it is more than worth the effort for anyone interested in such topics.

Apart from the content, this book is an extraordinary piece of scholarship. Stearns examines every aspect of the problems inherent in the analysis of this corpus in minute detail, considers every possible conclusion, and, when a conclusion seems warranted, he draws it. When a conclusion seems incautious, he leaves it unstated. This is historical linguistic detective work at its very best.

this book was GREAT!!, much insight

There is a brilliant second edition of this book (published Sept 99) available from amazon.co.uk. Why is this website page not updated with details of the new edition?

Acctualy I work in HR for Levi Strauss in Brazil and I have heard about a training - Effective Business Communications in Los Angeles, and I would like to know more about it - phone number, contacts,...

Look foward to hear from you!

Sincerely!

Darcilene Padilha

Cthulhu's Creatures was released in 2007 and I have only now gotten around to reviewing it. There are a number of reasons for that; I suppose my problem was that although I mostly enjoyed this book, the best stories were all reprints I already had, mythos poetry is just about never any good and the worst stories were not so hot. Rainfall Books is an enterprising press in the UK which produces a lot of material of interest to mythos fans. In particular they put out pretty good chapbooks, each with 3-4 stories in it. Because of the prolific nature of their chapbook publication they have attracted submissions from many authors with varying degrees of talent. The rub is that these chapbooks are not widely available in the US. Shocklines used to sell all of them for about $12, with free shipping. Mythos Books carries a few and some were available on EBay, RFB's original preferred distribution. Now that Shocklines has tanked, no one has stepped into the breach. No worries! You might consider Cthulhu's Creatures a greatest hits compilation of RFB's chapbooks. The publisher, however, was JNJ Publications. I guess they saw one way for small presses to make money was to put out limited edition collectors' items. Hence, Cthulhu's Creatures is a limited edition trade paperback soft cover. Only 100 copies were printed, all of them numbered to add to the cachet (I have #43) and signed by RFB's head honchos Steve Lines and John Ford, as well as JNJ Publications' Jeff Hill and Simon Clark, who wrote the optimistically enthusiastic introduction. Cover art is a nice Cthulhu by Jeff Lines who does just about all of RFB's art. Page count is 230, all text. Production qualities are good, nothing special for a "limited" edition; editing was pretty good and I only spotted a few typos. There is a useful list of the original publication history of most of the stories, although I still have questions about how accurate the copyright dates are. If I Married a Shoggoth was in Jeffrey Thomas's collection Unholy Dimensions from Mythos Books in 2005, how can it have a 2007 copyright?

The Night Music of Oakdeene by Joseph S. Pulver - I know Mr. Pulver from the dreadful novel Nightmare's Disciple. I shouldn't have worried. I thought this was an excellent start to the book. A cruel young man has a new job as night watchman at the Oakdeene sanitarium where he finds he is able to keep his inmates quiet by chanting to Ybb Tstll. Tension and horror were both well developed.

Objects from the Gilman-Waite Collection by Ann K. Schwader - In this brilliant story, a traveling businessman spends a few idle hours looking at a traveling exhibit in a museum. His past comes back to haunt him. This was probably the best story in the book but it was reprinted from Strange Stars and Alien Shadows, which I already have.

The Image Dissector by Simon Clark - Simon Clark wrote the Leisure Book, Nailed by the Heart in about 2000. I haven't read it but it *is* a Leisure Book...He also has written a few short stories but I don't recall any. In a balloon above 1936 Providence images are sent via wire to a television on the ground. During a storm the crew of three men begins to see images on their screen sent up the wire the wrong way from a contact in a nearby graveyard. I suppose this was OK enough but it was pretty forgettable, with a predictable plot, caricatures instead of characters and prose that lacked any snap.

Ms Found in a Steel Bottle by Simon Whitechapel - As near as I can tell, Mr. Whitechapel does not have much of a mythos story publication history. Maybe someone can fill me in. An antiquarian of modest means serves as an antiquarian of immodest means' secretary. They seek artifacts of Atlantis and are lowered into a bathysphere as they explore the depths. Only the message makes it back. OK, decent enough, not spectacular or memorable.

Far Sight by Kevin O'Brien - I wish Lindisfarne Press had not tanked. I really do. Both Eldritch Blue and Strange Stars and Alien Shadows were outstanding books; I was practically salivating over their proposed catalogue. Alas! Also alas I do not like Mr. O'Brien's prose even a little bit. In this story Laban Shrewsbury is used to introduce a detective/professorial couple who perhaps the author wants to develop as recurring characters or occult detectives? A device can spy into other dimensions. Not only is the plot device pretty well worn, but the initial descriptions of the characters reads painfully like an essay for English 101, and there is an incredibly tedious amount of lecturing us about tachyons.

Re-Quest Denied by Stanley Sargent - Mr. Sargent has a few books of his mythos fiction floating around. Check out Elder Signs Press' homepage if you want to sample it. I have never been moved by Mr. Sargent's fiction and here I think he makes a bit of a mistake. While the story of regrets of old age and jealousy of youth has a very good unexpected ending, I don't think anyone should tread the hallowed ground of Sesqua Valley except WH Pugmire. Mr. Pugmire's prose is so unique, his vision so...Lovecraftian...no one else can transport us like he can.

I Married a Shoggoth by Jeffrey Thomas - Mr. Thomas may be the closest to famous of all the authors here. In this story, a frustrated young man summons a shoggoth to fulfill his fantasies. I liked this one pretty well but I have multiple other copies in my library.

Questioning of the Azathothian Priest by CJ Henderson - OK, maybe Mr. Henderson is pretty well known too! I am not a big Anton Zarnak fan but this story manages to do justice to Lin Carter's character with the author's reliable hard boiled prose. The only problem is that I already have this story in Hard Boiled Cthulhu. Maybe they are playing to the UK audience who won't have as much duplication?

When in Leng by Ron Shiflet - I like Ron Shiflet's prose. I am eagerly awaiting his single author collection, Looking for Darla from ESP (although I am also thinking there will be a lot of overlap with my collection). This story is decent enough. Two old college buddies get together for dinner after one of them returns from his travels among the Tcho Tcho...No surprises but fun.

Signs & Signals by John Shire - I don't know much about Mr. Shire's work except I liked The Tip of the Iceberg from High Seas Cthulhu. This was a somewhat too complicated story about how the wind farms near Cornwall are actually being used as signals to something that really likes walking on the wind...I wasn't blown away (so to speak) but I enjoyed it well enough.

The Horror in the Genizah by Robert Price - Mr. Price requires no introduction from me. He is practically venerable and the mythos world owes him much for his tireless efforts on behalf of Lovecraftian fiction (dare I say he is a latter day Derleth?) . Sometimes I have carped about his overly assiduous application of his knowledge of comparative religion, but sometimes it really works, like in Acute Spiritual Fear (see Tales Out of Dunwich). Or here. I was totally into this story by Mr. Price, as I freely admit I don't know much about Islam. Per Price (I cannot vouch for the veracity of his prose), Muslims so venerate the Koran that they cannot just discard it when a copy has worn out. They instead `retire' it into a repository in a mosque. Over the years you can accumulate quite a store of papers, and perhaps the version at the bottom in the most ancient mosques does not match up with today's standard version. Perhaps there is a book we all know giving the original its provenance...

Welcome to Goatshead by Tim Curran - I have mixed feelings about Mr. Curran's fiction. I didn't like Hive but I have enjoyed most of his short stories. Here a young woman close to term in her pregnancy returns to her childhood home in Wisconsin around the Lammas Night celebration. Perhaps the prose was a bit overblown for some, but personally I enjoyed the atmospheric language and slow mood building.

Felicity by Susan McAdam (the artist from Eldritch Blue!) - An office drudge is asked to settle the affairs of a coworker who has committed suicide. Interestingly, the suicide has been settling the affairs of another coworker who had just committed suicide. In the deceased's possession is a certain play...Well I confess it. I love most Yellow Sign fiction, although this piece was particularly good.

Innsmouth Harvest by Ran Cartright - Mr. Cartright has a collection of his stories, Gretchen's Wood, available from Publish America. He practically has a cottage industry of publishing in RFB's chapbooks. In this story, Innsmouth has become a hot spot for the young and upwardly mobile..at least the women are particularly welcomed and the men don't find things so convivial. I just don't care much for Mr. Cartright's prose. This was not unenjoyable but it wasn't memorable.

The Ring of Azathoth by Michael Fantina - I only know Mr. Fantina from his poetry printed in the earlier RFB book Lost Worlds of Space and Time. A poor student becomes enamored of a piece of jewelry in a dusty old pawn shop in the poor area of town. A devout monk and mystic helps him. Readable enough I suppose but pretty forgettable, alas like a lot of what I've been reading in this book.

Crawling Terrors from Sho-Beth Mein by CD Allen - This author is new to me. This pedestrian effort discusses the loathsome aspects of spiders.

Episode in an Arkham Pool Hall by James Ambeuhl - Hey James, I love you man. Don't hate me for not especially liking this story, which is pretty standard Ambeuhl fare. Heck I guess I liked it well enough; it was pretty fun, pithy and better than some others here.

A Vision of Carcosa by John B. Ford and Steve Lines - You already know my bottom line on Yellow Sign fiction. I found it a very agreeable read.

Chancellor Town at Dark by Brian Leno - Franklyn Searight also pens Chancellor Town stories, also over the top and played for mythos humor. Mostly I think they flop. No exception here.

In no particular order, the following works were poetry:
Beneath Evil Skies by Phillip Ellis, The Marsh House by Franklyn Searight, Eclipse by Joel Lane, The Prisoner by Joel Lane, The Passing of Cassilda by Richard Tierney, Apocalypse by Richard Tierney - none of them jazzed me at all.

Do I have a bottom line? Collectors must have this. Casual readers will have a hard time acquiring one of the copies. While I didn't find it objectionable I sure wish it had more good stories; on the whole, there were enough good things in it to make me happy about spending my hard earned Cthulhu bucks. Among recent anthologies with mythos tendencies, I have really liked Horrors Beyond II and Weird Shadows Over Innsmouth. Hard Boiled Cthulhu was top notch. On a lesser rung were High Seas Cthulhu and Frontier Cthulhu; I found plenty to enjoy in both. Cthulhu's Creatures is probably about on the level of Arkham Tales. I rate it 5 stars because I think it had more good stories than The Tsathoggua Cycle, which I rated at 3, and it was better than The Colour Out of Darkness, a novella by John Pelan. Double check your collection for overlap. What the heck, I liked Arkham Tales too. Good luck finding it. It is more availabe than the first edition of Dead But Dreaming (only 75 copies printed) or Cthulhu Express (11 copies plus contributors' copies, although it may some day be reprinted).

This book provides everything you ever wanted to know about french cooking and wine as well as wine regions. Simple or complicated: This book holds everything, from Snacks to 12 course Dinners. Photographic illustrations show you how to prepare, create and decorate the dishes yourself. Unfortunately you have to know at least a little French or have to have a good dictionnary to translate the french recipes and text. Especially enjoyable: The wine and aperitif sections as well as the desserts and the menu suggestions. One of the best cook books I ever bought. Curnonsky certainly knew how to prepare and enjoy good food and share this knowlede with others.

This cookbook is written in French. Each recipe is rated as easy, medium, or difficult; as low-price, medium, or expensive; and whether it goes best with red, white, or rose wine.For each recipe is given the exact time for preparation and for cooking.
The author covers cooking tools and utensils, types of meats, cooking techniques, and an excellent list on storing foods (how to wrap or package them, how long they can be stored). In addition to the regular recipes of appetizers, soups, salads, meats etc., the author includes special sections on barbecues, menu suggestions, wines, and food preservation (this last section is about technique but has no recipes).
This book is very comprehensive and well organized.

I have found this book to be an invaluable resource while working in a Cardiac ICU. It is well organized, succinct and provides valuable background information to both to each class of drugs and individual medications. It combines a clear format for easy access to information as well as valuable clinical and pharmacological information. I have found this book to be useful both as a reference for day to day patient care and as a read during down-time in the unit.

This play by Edmund Rostand was immediately deemed a failure by the playwright before the curtain went up. But he was unprepared for the public's reaction to his latest creation. Now, the play that made Rostand an overnight sensation in France is available with the original film version starring Jose Ferrer in the title role. Several years prior, he had played Cyrano on Broadway, winning a Tony. To this day, he remains the only actor to win an Academy Award, a Golden Globe AND a Tony for the same role. I highly recommend this for English classes. The film is Not Rated.

J'ai littéralement dévoré le livre D'amour et de folie de l'auteure Joanne Therrien. Ce cas vécu portant sur l'amour inconditionnelle d'une femme envers son mari atteint de maladie mentale (psycho maniaco dépression ou maladie bi-polaire) est une véritable histoire de courage. Se logeant dans une catégorie à part, au même titre que le cas vécu "Jamais sans ma fille", D'amour et de folie lève le voile sur le tabou de la maladie mentale et sensibilise le lecteur à l'urgence de se pencher sur de solutions concrètes, tant pour la personne atteinte de maladie mentale que pour son entourage immédiat, tous victimes de ce mal de société.